1. Field
The technology of the present application relates generally to a collapsible holder for a beverage, and more specifically, to a collapsible cup holder attachable to the basket of a shopping cart.
2. Background
A trend currently exists for retail shopping stores to provide beverage services, such as, for example, STARBUCKS®, or beverages dispensing machines, such as Coke-a-Cola®, Pepsi®, bottled water or the like, for shoppers. Retailers provide these beverage services in an attempt to facilitate the needs of a shopper or consumer to make shopping more convenient and pleasurable for the shopper.
Most retailers also provide shopping carts for the convenience of the shoppers. Unfortunately, operating a shopping cart and consuming a beverage can be challenging. With conventional shopping carts, a customer must continuously hold the beverage or, in the alternative, rest the beverage on a portion of the shopping cart that is not designed to hold a beverage. Holding the beverage is an inconvenience at best. Moreover, the shopper may misplace the beverage, lose the beverage, or have the beverage spilled. Resting the beverage on a portion of the shopping cart that is not designed to hold a beverage is equally inconvenient. Often the beverage must be propped up by a article to be purchased or carried by the shopper. In many cases, the beverage tips causing a spill. This may cause damage to the shopper's goods and/or damage to items to be purchased, e.g., shrink.
Prior attempts to provide a device to hold a beverage have not satisfactorily addressed the above problem. Often the prior devices attach a holder to a shopping cart in a location remote from where the shopper generally stands relative to the cart. This tends to result in shoppers not using the device. Alternatively, the devices extend into basket of the shopping cart or in the foldable child restraint section of the cart. This reduces the storage space in the shopping cart when the holder is unnecessary.
Thus, against this background, it would be desirable to provide an improved device capable of holding a beverage configured for use with a shopping cart.